"Don't Feed the Freaks" | Apocalyptic Animated Short Film (2018) 

“Why would they leave?” Because perfection can’t be reached and whenever someone thinks they’ve reached it they’ve only reached madness.

The “freaks” are survivors of the “old autodale” because the survivor when he reached current Autodale, the freak had his scarf.

“It sounds like a paradise” Yeah, how about no.

My theory is that he was a "freak" the entire time, but viewed himself as human. He awoke outside a destroyed city having no memories of his life prior to waking up, just making assumptions. He seems to be at peace with everything around him, including the other freaks, who, by the way he describes them, seem very at peace themselves, just traveling and surviving. At the end when the other freak approached him, it was calm and peaceful towards him, were all the books he read told him that the freaks are very aggressive. All this would explain the last seen where the children see a freak approach them wearing the MC's white scarf. I dont think that it is figurative, but the wasteland beyond the walls transforms people into the freaks. In a world with giant hive minded beings ruling cities, i don't think its a very far off theory. If you watch "Friendly Shadow" you will learn that these freaks can also draw and make beds for themselves, and know how to start fires(candles). So possibly those that venture into the wilderness become these freaks but retain parts of their humanity. The one that showed the MC the direction to autodale was carrying what i believe to be its own mask from when it had once been human.

“It sounds like a paradise” I really want David to make a scene where this guy sees people being stabbed and thrown into a pit full of dead bodies.

“It didn’t always look like this...” Yea it looked like a d with a city around it

I like how he doesn’t hate the freaks. He just thinks their misunderstood.

For those of you returning after Immortal Machine- I’m pretty sure the freaks are the result of the disease around the world, and that’s what infected humans turn into

"They're called freaks" IM PRETTY SURE THAT'S A DEATH CLAW BUT OK

Who else has been LIVING for another upload? Edit: You're all Pretty.

who else just sat staring at their screen after seeing the end clip? David, you've completely outdone yourself.

WAIT A MINUTE At the end i realized that He is a monster but he sees everyone as a monster but not him

Why do I love this stuff so much..

Him: * Talking about Autodale and how it sounds like paradise * Me: NOPE NOPE NOPE

I find the "freaks" quite cute looking actually-

Woah, ok, a lot to unravel here. I could write pages analysing this video, but the most important part to me is in the final 5.35 moment. The traveler wears a white scarf throughout the short. The scarf is constantly moving and flowing through the wind, but at 5.35 a freak enters Autodale. A freak with a white scarf flowing through the wind. Could this be our traveler? I can understand this in two ways: 1. The traveler is actually a freak who read books and believes to be a human. Or 2. Since the traveler is new, different to Autodale, since he wasn't raised with brainwashing, he's neither pretty or ugly. To the people living there, he is a freak

Everyone talking about the Freaks, but honestly I’m more interested in the “Giants” (0:18, 0:44, 4:50). I have so many questions. What are they? Are they or were they ever human? Is the one in Autodale the last one? What happened to the others? What do they want? What is their nature? Why do they all seem in pain? Why do some look like they were trying to escape from something? If they’re not from Earth, where did they come from? If they’re from Earth, what were they created for?

“Dont feed the freaks” My parents: you can’t have a snack Me: *hold up*

2:13 'it sounds like the paradise." Me: *Ha ha ha* , nope

Him: "Sounds like paradise." Me: *Who gon' tell him?*

I can't be the only one who thinks the "freaks" are kinda cute

What's odd is the fact is that they have their masks still. It really shows how crazy people will stick to their cause even when their organization has fallen. It's scary.

There was grafiti all over Town: 0:48 "ERASE" 0:53 "Don't FEED the FREAKS" 3:06 " The FALLEN KINGDOMS OF DEAD GODS" "Don't FLOAT!" " They _____ _______ ______" *note i am only writing what was not said in the video* Also in the journals (from what I can make out) say 2:06 "The masks are unique to Autodale" "The closer I ...... the most by....... depicts some..... tower. I'm.......where the ....Titain's Legs... Perhaps ____ alive!" " All of the ___(towns?) I've ________ _____ of _____ ____ damage of the Towers ___ ______ ____ _____ ____ _____" 2:10 " A lot of the pieces depict children. Childhood toys, television ____ and general _____ and ____. Seems like an incredible place to grow up." "THE TOWER I've found so many of these drawings. Is it just because of the ____(maybe "towns")? It seems the villagers ("villains"??) are obsessed with the Tower" The writer also infers that the masks are status symbols, or perhaps something to do with happiness or harmony. 2:12 "This image(the robots) is everywhere. The bots I remember were just for security." 2:17 you probably read this one but whatever " I was never Pretty. I didn't belong" " I miss dad. I miss Autodale" " Who drew this? Who wrote this?" 3:03 "the fallen kingdom of the gods" "DON'T FLOAT" "they will watch from above"-"will watch from above " courtesy of @jiarae yew 3:32 " This is a page from a childrens book I found. Turns out the freaks REALLY ARE everywhere" " Freaks, Monsters, Strangers, Outsiders, they're all the same. Autodale refers to them as "Monsters". Town called them "Freaks" . There big, scary, and unpredictable. I've tried so desperately..." "I want to understand them but I can't" "A child's drawing of (freaks)..." 3:35 "Give them what they want, stay calm and behave. The first hurt me worse than the second. The second didn't even take anything. It just pushed me down and roared at me. I _____ it and it left me." 3:37 "Sympathy? Empathy? Monsters???" I don't know who ____ this but it makes me think of something I've considered for a while. The Freaks are monsters and they're extremely dangerous, but I can't help but empathize with them. Maybe because they're the only other living things I have encountered." Make what you can of it!

the man: they're the only living things i see out here the literal plants that are in almost every scene: am i a joke to you

This makes sooo much more sense now that immortal engine has been released. Don't read more if you don't want spoilers. The people going away from autodale are probably people who tried to escape when they realised that the society they lived in relied on sacrificing humans. Also the freaks are the people from Town, due to the illness which wipes out humanity.

The top comment asks for a sequel to this but I want a prequel. Like what caused Town to fall into such disrepair? What caused everyone to either die or escape?

“They can be extremely violent if you don’t behave” Literally describing every parent if they were monsters

0:43 I don't know but this scene feels very uncanny. The goddess screaming in pain in their last moments makes me feel an emotion I've never felt before. It also feels reminiscent of the works of the artist Simon Stålenhag

It's abstract brilliance. I sure hope to god this isn't where we're headed.

Wow. Just wow. So many questions. Someday we might get answers but until then we can just enjoy the brilliance of these videos.

Autodale aint so “pretteh” anymore

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, I liked this. Especcially the ending scene, where you see his scarf waving and the hand of a Freak

I showed the whole series to my mom and she said “I have no idea what this is about but it’s awesome.”

I like how they emphasize the violence by only making the blood in color and everything else is in black-and-white. Very unique concept and one that works very well at that!

3:17 Minor fourth wall break. It looking into the camera really captures that slightly unnerving, unpredictable shtick you aimed for with the freaks.

Protagonist: oh boy autodale is such a nice place Handymans,light-weight recon mechs, and glaDOS wannabe: well yes, but actually *[censorship time]*

Only noticed the "dont float" graffiti now. A lot of the wasteland has floating elements. 👀 his scarf was floating too. And the peoplr were as well. Now i'm wondering if the reason why he only ever sees freaks in the wasteland is because freaks can stay on the ground. And hes a freak? Idk man I'm just throwin shit out there.

watching "friendly shadow" first and then this has made the freaks to much more interesting. I think this is my favourite short in the series to be honest

Okay, so a man, let's call him Adam. Adam's collecting pieces of a puzzle to Glamorous, or to him "Town." The place he was possibly born, raised, and ventured away from so many possible years ago. He had been collecting books on the "Freaks" and hoarding the masks from another town called Autodale, looting them from only bones. The trail Adam walks, he encounters large, behemoth mechanical looked humanoids, and even shows another mechanical being strangling two people until it had lost all power. The city of Glamorous had one in the middle with a house stating it was the, "The fallen kingdom of Dead Gods." The machines being god's among man. A failed town, a failed government and a failed Autodale, as the rest were, as all are to become. Raiders scavenging for food, killing who they need or want for personal gain. The masks hide beauty, hide hideous, make everyone on the same level, everyone looks the same after all. It is only when someone takes off their mask are they a freak, an outcast, driven away from the city because they don't want to be restrained by the shackles that the government nailed to the ground. Each Freak is a person without a mask, or that had taken it off, just like Adam is. Trying to find a corrupt paradise that he knows to little about to understand it's true nature. To everyone else, he is a freak, but from what his blind eyes also see are the monsters with a goats head, razor claws, a split tail, and lengthy have hanging antennae. Adam has been confused on why other were moving away from the town, and soon he will know why, he doesn't belong there to the government, he is a monster, a loner, a freak in their eyes. Though, it begs the question... Were they all monsters to begin with? A freak is a human, though transformed due to their lack of restraint, showing the reality of what a human is, a beast, a wolf in sheep's clothing, violent in nature. He was a Freak himself the entire time, wanting to rejoin society and shed the insanity that looms over his mind. There was nothing between the town, and nothing can get weird. Isolation brings one to imagine impossibly realistic images, and show someone's true nature, if they are a Freak, or a Mask.

This is both the most beautiful and scary at the same time. It's fantastic

Been waiting so long!!! FINALLY YES The freak at the end had the scarf. Do you think travelers are seen as freaks? Or was that freak not so friendly? Edit: Woah! Thank you so much for all the likes!!!

The freaks aren’t freaks at all are they? They’re just “outsiders.” someone different from yourself and your peers or what you know they should be like. Or maybe even what society says they should be like.

The fact that all these series in this chanel are connected is crazy as if the whole channel is trying to teach us something about our life

Someone can say I'm wrong but what I think is that the freaks are people that don't live in the towns but just walk in the land around it. I thought this because the main person and the last freak had the same looking scarf.

“They may have killed everything and everyone I knew, but I don’t hate them”. If the freaks are humans and he is a freak himself, this line makes so much more sense. If the people caused this disaster and turned others into freaks, then of course, instinctively, he wouldn’t hate them. Humans may have and probably will in our future, destroy everything we know, but we can’t bring ourselves to truly hate humanity because we are it. This is a true masterpiece! Please continue making more in the future!

My interpretation of this is that Autodale tells everyone that travelers are freaks because Autodale is scared that the travelers will notice things about their society and that something's wrong so by telling the citizens that they're freaks, they're trying to get the citizens to fear them and not listen to them.

What if he is a “freak” as well but sees himself as a normal human and the others are also mutated humans?

I study first year A-level sociology and this video reminded my of functionalism. This is more referring to "Being Pretty" but I wanted to get this down whilst I remembered it. Functionalism is a perspective that sees a person as a cell, a group of people ( like a family, school or business) as an organ and society as a living breathing creature. They believe that everyone has a set function that they must complete, no questions asked. Functionalists believe that individuals must set aside their own desires, as "greed" for something other than their set role will cause the collapse of society. What made me think of functionalism was the creepy bit at the end of "Being Pretty," where they "uglies" were being killed. There are several aspects that just screamed out to me because they are what functionalists don't like. The pretties that are accepted because they are exactly the same; following rules and not stepping out of line (this is what functionalists like). On the other hand, the uglies are what functionalists don't like. They don't like same-sex couples because they cannot have children. They aren't the biggest fans of the elderly because they can no longer form their previous function. They aren't fans of anything that puts their view of society at threat. To functionalist, education and the nuclear family (mother, father and children) are incredibly important as they mould children into what society needs, people who will obey. The parents teach children to behave, and education enforces the hierarchy of authority they children will meet in the work place. In the "making or being pretty," Mrs Armsby said how he saw a world were adults were brain washed into beings with no individuality and nothing that makes them unique, and the children grow up to be just like their parents. I believe that Autodale is a society where functionalism takes it too far and over rides the other, vital perspectives that makes our society they way it is today (like the personal-life theory that looks at how relationships impact the individual and not the society). I'm not saying functionalism is all bad because they present values that a society needs for building blocks (like how to keep social order). This is just my theory based on what I've learnt in class. If people reading this disagree or know more about the subject and want to correct me please do. Like I said, I'm in the first year of the course and I'd like to know what other people think of me. Thank you for reading my one am essay on functionalism.

*Sees title* Me: Welp guess I'm starving tonight

I put this on full screen and genuinely thought it was a movie.

Real twist:the traveler is the happy mask salesman

Welp, after the latest short film (very good piece!) Some people pointed out that "being" freak isn't a metaphor. It is indeed biological, it seems that the nuclear wasteland outside of autodale turns the humans another species to survive it. Because "the freaks" May be the only truly free people, but they are also Hella, unnatural strong.

that ending gave me goosebumps the execution was by all means masterfully done. Just the right atmosphere and never overdone.

Wait... WHAT? What the hell just happend? Man, don't just do this to me, giving me so much room for speculation! i mean, it is a great job you did and even after watching it multible times... I can't get enough of it! But hell, this short made so much more questions than it gave answers...! Please do more of this! I want to learn more about that universe and the Freaks. They are amazing!

I wanted this scene to play out differently... but in the end, I can't think of any other way it possibly could.

So, tell me. Has this been nominated for an Oscar yet? Because it needs to be.

Theory. The “Freak” on 2:31 (with the mask and band-aids) is the baby freak from Friendly Shadow. That’s why they pointed in that direction. It’s possible because we don’t know if they age or have normal aging system.

*starts, not a robotic voice* Me: *surprised pikachu face*

This is the most interesting video in this series (at least to me) as I was lucky enough to watch it as it was released and thus able to think about it. At first it seemed out of place compared to other Auto Dale stories, I was about to say that I can see why the idea of freaks stopped making sense to you as you were making the first short and how the freaks themselves didn't really fit with the rest of the Auto Dale universe, but then I started thinking about it and it started making more sense. In my opinion freaks aren't really monsters, at least not physically. It seems like the entire world consist of these cities where the monarch hold all of the power. There isn't just one Auto Dale, there were many, each of them having it's own flavour (as you can see the Town was all about glamour which could be it's version of "prettiness") And since each city has it's own hard defined rules and class systems the scariest thing to them would be someone who's new to the city, a traveler. Travelers are those who usually see more than any normal person, they experience different things and are the ones who can tell about these things to others. Something like that is terrifying to something that uses isolation and brainwasing to achieve compliancy from it's subjects. Not just that they themselves don't fit to any other category made by the monarchs. (In the case of Auto Dale) They aren't "pretty", nor "ugly" as they don't know/listen to the rules of the community and they aren't necessarily "exceptional" as they themselves might not see the rules made by the monarchs to be flawed. They are freaks someone who doesn't belong to any group and thus is the most frightening and dangerous thing in the eyes of a monarch. The reason why the monarchs would want to brand them as monsters would most likely be that they could cause a city to rebel (as symbolised by the destruction of the Town) as they are the only ones capable of showing others that the world is bigger than the small pocket of space they lived in their entire life and expose monarch's manipulation. And when it comes to them being aggresive when you "don't behave" might just come down to people (the freaks) wanting to survive. Them being just humans would also explain their behavior. Human is a social animal and traveling in groups is not just great for survival but also it helps you avoid complete mental breakdown, when the freaks just stop moving it is probably because they have lost all hope and have no more motivation to continue (another thing us humans are prone to do) And then at the end where one of the freaks showed our protagonist way to Auto Dale might be just him wanting to help out someone who hasn't broken out of the brainwashing of the monarch by sending them to a nearby city where they could hopefully peacefully live out their life. So yeah in my opinion freaks don't exist or at least the monsters monarchs would like you to fear don't exist and are just human survivors trying traveling around the world, accidentally (or purposefully) entering the cities.

Child:*is born ugly* Robots: I diagnose you with dead

That part were he realizes so many try to escape Autodale got me.

I love how the entries in his journal can be read with minimal problems! Thank you for that little detail - I made sure to read all of them, and I have to say they are very realistic.

I don’t know why but this had me thinking of our world where outcasts and loners are often avoided and talked bad about but on the inside there humans they’re curious there everything we are but they’re just different I truly like this video I’m not sure if it had anything to do with what I’m saying but whoever created this your truly imaginative keep it up

2:18 No! You don't. Stop. Also, I want a whole show based on this

It looks like the Matriarchs are being broken out of their tower, like someone breaking an egg, where they then drag themselves (or are dragged) away and die elsewhere. I'm not even sure the Matriarchs *want* to be in their towers... they often look like they've been bound and tortured: wrapped in barbed wire, wires with hooks embedded in their arms, piercings, agonized expressions... In one of the previous videos there was electricity and it looked like she was gasping or screaming. Do you think the Exceptionals are used to sustain as well as maintain the Matriarch's trap, and the machines use her somehow, like to grant themselves a kind of hive mind or a capacity to manipulate humans outside of the standard system like the robot did the girl with her toy? Maybe the Matriarchs just represent the legacy and spirit of their cities... and Freaks are those who lost or abandoned their cities. Autodale can't call them Ugly because most Freaks don't have the flaws that qualify them as such ("homeless" is not a flaw in genetics or working/reproductive ability) nor do they have the power to exterminate them, so they're called Freaks to help the Pretties shun them and fear the outside.

That ending left my speachless ngl

You're one of the best animators I've seen on RU-vid Thanks for the good stuff man

"I call this place Town." Damn so creative

"Who's that Pokemon"

Excellent, true showing of mystery without a mysterious story, and everyone is begging for more. Keep note that blood is the only thing that is a different color, and how the freak at the end wears a white scarf, Do other people see him as a freak. Dose he see others as freaks. I hope you continue this project. Truly a masterpiece

I’m just so struck by how intelligent the freaks eyes look. I don’t know how he captures that, but it’s amazing

"why would they leave" more like *Why would they stay*

The fact that all the bodies are trying to go away is basically saying that it may seem perfect but it does not always mean it’s a good place the fact the character says it sounds like a paradise shows us how we are easily lied to and that we all want the possibility of a paradise and easily fall for the promise of a paradise and that we can easily be tricked with all the brainwashing, this really is a phycological art piece

hey deathclaws are cool just don't get too close

Here’s my theory: The places like Autodale were established by a large organization. The organization began using robots to keep the towns running, because the robots won’t/ can’t tell any of the citizens what REALLY goes on. Over time, the organization and the other towns collapsed. I’m guessing Autodale survived, and is just kept running by the robots. The robots keep doing what they were programmed to do, and since Autodale runs on a cycle and nothing ever changes, the town continues on. The freaks are how the robots in Autodale were programmed to portray outsiders to the citizens of Autodale. I think the freaks are supposed to be the monsters from the earlier short. Maybe the traveller survived the collapse of his town, and has blocked the memories from his mind. However, because the robots taught him that people who were different from him are freaks/monsters that makes him process the other survivors he meets as freaks. He says some of the freaks are violent, but some aren’t, which could describe how people behave in life or death situations. When the traveller arrives in Autodale, the children see him as a freak, because he is different from them and the robots have continued to portray outsiders as freaks. Anyway, that’s my two cents. I love this series!

Beautiful ! I'm french and I love your videos. Continue, you've got talent !

I dont know where this series is going, and I don't know what is intended by it's writer. I will say that I like the animation style, and the plot. This is a series worth watching, and it should be made into a movie. There is much we can learn from it socially speaking.

Plot twist: The Freaks are Albino Deathclaws.

God, I love the Found Journal Trope. It's such an awesome story starter.

The "freaks" have been a massive and great addition to the lore, they add a whole world to autodale and also a different perception to it all. Came here from the friendly shadow and it's nice to see the freaks again.

3:40 in the newest video friendly shadow is a prequel to this video by the fact of this girl giving the freaks cake

We are all freaks. It doesn't matter whether we are from Autodale or any other town. To each other we will always be freaks, because we cannot understand the other. It's impossible. And that's what I think the freaks are. Human. And to them, the lonely man looks just like a freak. Those who keep in groups are the people who don't understand but try. The ones keeping to themselves are those who know they could never understand and gave up, surrendered themselves to watching, watchong. Always watching. Those who follow and then just... stop... Those are the ones like YOU. Like all of us. We go and try and follow other freaks until we realise that no matter how far we go with them, we will never truly understand. Because at the end of the day, the only person who understands you, is yourself. And isn't that the definition of loneliness? That no matter how hard you try, it is only yourself that looks human. That's why the people in Autodale wear the masks. Because when they look like you, it's easy to think they function like you. In the most twisted way, this was portrayed beautifully. The fact that we all try to look the part since it's easier, safer. But we're not a mask, we are genious, talented, queer or divorced. Suddenly we aren't the same as everyone else. And we are deemed ugly for that. Since. We. Are. Incomprehensible. And therefore, for the society, expendible, damnable, rubbish. Who the robots are, I can't really figure out. Some sort of norms, I think. Rules by which we abide because they keep us safe and can take our lives. The one though, I'm getting real 1984 vibes from that ONE robot. Because he stopped. He stopped to look at the corpses, he cocked his head when talking to the girl. He doesn't have answers. But he might have questions. PS: *whispers* I love this series! All of my appreciation to the author.

Ok wtf is going on and where can I find more of this brilliance.

I love the way that in the end scene the freaks claw goes out of the frame thing

what i take away from this is that everyone is a freak, but nobody sees themselves as one.

Poor traveller, we found his book when he's dead

3:38 ITS THE THING THAT HAPPENED IN THE FRIENDLY SHADOW

I wish this was a survival game where you play as this guy, searching around the town, avoiding freaks and finding fragments and evidence of the Town that once was.

Who else just wants a freak action figure

I really liked this creature's design in general. It could turn into a great game to be honest.

This looks awesome! Keep up the great work!

"Why would they leave?" Oh, buddy... If only you knew of the horrors that happen in there...

I love it when normally creepy stories add in interesting and intriguing lore of something "Outside" or anything really. Adds to the whole story and doesn't make it a giant depressive vision.

wait..... if there were other cities like Autodale..... Does that mean there were more penis towers?

I loved the monsters and I hope that there story can be continued! The town is great but these things seem to have more background than the pretties will ever have

I need more of this story. Your work is really good, Every video I watch makes me want more of the story from that world.

"Don't feed My Dog"

3:38 I like how you used the original drawing that inspired this whole series!!!

I thought this was pretty good, he doesn’t care that the “ freaks “ may have killed his loved ones he just thinks their misunderstood and their the only ones he’ll probably ever know

I always burst out crying whenever the ‘freaks’ interact with humans, because their always so sweet and I love them too much